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Beloved Chronicles; An Overdue Update
Tuesday, January 14th, 2025 02:21 am After making this blog, I’ve been wondering for some time what my first post should be; an introduction perhaps, or something else…well, I’ve come to the conclusion I’m terrible at introductions, and I’ve struggled to finish anything on any other topics. But, lately, I’ve been making big changes to Beloved Chronicles—so, I think, it may be prudent to explain everything in one post, for those who are curious. Sorry in advance that this will be a bit of a mess—but there's a TL;DR down below for anyone interested.
For context (though I imagine if you are reading this, there is a good chance you already know most of this): Beloved Chronicles is a novel series I have been working on, in some fashion, nearly for as long as I can remember, at this point. I created the website for it nearly six(!) years ago, and I published the first book of the series, String of Stardust, four years ago. Almost two years ago, I updated it; I had published it during a time of great duress for me, and as such it wasn’t quite up to my then-present standards. And then…I’ve not released anything since. Over four years since a new book, and nearly two since any updates at all. If you know me, then you know I have never abandoned Beloved Chronicles, or have had any intentions of halting it—although, oftentimes my website has not made this fact obvious. What happened?
Originally, many of the “parts” of the series were meant to be multiple volumes: String of Stardust, as it currently exists, was meant to be volume one, its ending the midpoint to that section of the story. This had been the intended case for roughly a decade now—in fact, at one point it was meant to be one volume…but with as long as String of Stardust in its current iteration is, that was wholly untenable. Ever since I published String of Stardust in October 2020, I had been working on its second volume…but there were issues. A lot of issues.
The second volume of String of Stardust was supposed to cover a much broader timespan than the first. In addition to that—well, simply, a lot of the particulars of the plot I still had to hammer out. By the time I released the updated version of the novel (updated both textually and physically, the new edition more elaborate than the last) in February 2023, I had largely done so. But still, I struggled.
Once August or so of 2023 rolled around, I had an idea to create a small side story set within the Beloved Chronicles universe. I thought perhaps it would help get my creative juices flowing again working on a shorter, more experimental project—but, still connected to my main project, so I wouldn’t lose too much momentum on it. Swiftly I went to work, and created Pyre of Piety. My goal was to finish it by 2024, and then quickly move back to String of Stardust: Volume Two. At first, this went fantastically; although the story clearly was going to end up longer than I envisioned (a short novel, rather than a novella), I was still able to write 30,000 words in about as many months—a paltry achievement for many, I know, but a fantastic one for me. And then, once 2024 came around, I…spun out again.
Personal Events
Ah, I guess there’s still important context I still forgot to mention: life has been…rough. In 2020, straight off the heels of the worst event of my life (completely unrelated to the pandemic—ironically enough, that didn’t affect me at all), I poured myself into art and writing; there is a reason I both finished String of Stardust in 2020, and I drew the most that year to boot. After the grief-stricken mania of 2020, though, I just sort of…lost gas. Long story short—I dealt with health issues debilitating enough to basically cripple me, a very toxic (and at times, dangerous) living situation, and a job so terrible I’ve met multiple people—thousands of miles away!—who have heard of the specific store I worked at due to its infamy. I was on the upswing around the time I started Pyre of Piety—but by the time that December had come, I was in the pit again.
Although, during this time I did start writing more again…in the most unhinged way I could think of. Since Pyre of Piety wasn’t, apparently, weird and self indulgent enough as it was, I started a new project together with Meg: a Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 fanfiction called Aqua Regia, staring the main characters of her series The Impavidus Cycle, Albtraum and Mianna—and of Beloved Chronicles, Hikaru and Suzette. So…I have been writing! Not any of the things I was supposed to, but that’s fine; it was wonderful practice, and I believe it has some of my best work…if you would like to read Aqua Regia yourself, you may do so here.
New Developments
Since I finished my half of Aqua Regia, I’ve been pouring my energy into Beloved Chronicles proper again—and this has come with many changes.
I finally realized that…I set myself up for failure. I’m already not the fastest writer, and this story is long enough as it is, even without every volume being split into multiple parts. In addition, I’ve come to learn I was, too, overambitious with the newest physical edition of String of Stardust… I love it a lot, it’s what I always desired, filled with illustrations, profiles, etc…but when I’ve tried replicating the same for Pyre of Piety, I’ve come to discover—I can’t. I don’t know what it is: age, time, whatever…but I can’t draw as much as I used to, and certainly not as consistently. I had so much fun creating String of Stardust that I think, internally, I downplayed what a massive undertaking it actually was.
So, what am I doing about all this?
If you have paid attention to the website, you may have noticed mentions of any “volume two”s fading away. I’ve decided to scrap String of Stardust: Volume Two entirely—bits and pieces of what it would have entailed will be shown and referenced in later parts, but it won’t be its own thing anymore. This feels very mean, considering the note String of Stardust ends on…and so, I’ve decided to make it downright diabolical by rewriting the epilogue for the old String of Stardust: Volume Two (which has actually been around for years now!) and attach it to the old String of Stardust: Volume One! As of this writing, the epilogue is finished, and will be posted online once I finish some other things on the website. :)
I’m working on Pyre of Piety again, and luckily progress is going swiftly again: I’ve had many days as of late where I have written 500 or more words, even days where I had over a thousand (again: a pitiful number for many authors, I know, but an achievement for me). Right now, it’s over 40,000 words; my current estimate is that it will be around 50,000 total, or a little more. This isn’t a strict goal, but I’m hoping to finish it before February.
And then, after that?
Well, some may have noticed that, a while ago, I added a new part to Beloved Chronicles: Blossoms of Blood. This story was actually supposed to be a part of a later entry on the list, Under the Oak—this was once going to be an anthology of three interconnected stories, but I realized…the first story I could not fathom how to make it short enough to fit in an anthology. And the second story, I realized, just didn’t have enough plot. Therefore: the first story has become Blossoms of Blood, the third story remains Under the Oak, and the middle has been scrapped.
In addition, I formally added a part I was contemplating on trying to squeeze into Under the Oak, but wasn’t sure: Within the Cage, a shorter side story similar to Pyre of Piety in that it’s not a part of the main plot of Beloved Chronicles, but adds important context for the characters, setting, and plot.
I’m not sure just explaining this all in words makes the most sense, so here was my intended plan for Beloved Chronicles before:
Fewer volumes, two that are short, and a pleasingly symmetrical system that’s moderately less strange and confusing. It all feels much less daunting to me, aside from how I will make a book I was originally planning on allowing myself three volumes for into only one—but when we get to that bridge, we’ll jump. Considering past trends, that is likely over a decade away regardless. Even still, this restructuring has helped me get everything straight in my head, and I think it's been showing in my writing output.
(Also, as for why I use “1.5” and “2.5”—I think once we get to the true second part, Hydrangeas for Concrete, it will be clear :) ).
Now, for the physical volumes—I'm redoing them yet again because, as I said, the workload for String of Stardust was just too much. I've been working on a new “brand” for Beloved Chronicles, one that incorporates my very specific interests (Victorian novels, vintage shoujo manga) but is also broad enough to encompass the many varied places I plan for Beloved Chronicles to go. I don't know when I will take down the current edition of String of Stardust, but it will be soon.
As for Pyre of Piety, I've decided to make it online only, for a time. I already have the new covers for both, but I want to release it sooner than I will be able to format it. And, besides, I need to save money to buy the physical copies. This time, I wish to print through Bookvault rather than Barnes and Noble—and this will likely (possibly not, I need to consider my options) entail me having to buy my own stock… Maybe I will do pre-orders or a Kickstarter for that, but—in addition to knowing that would probably fail—I know that can be a slippery slope… Either way, I hope I can start producing physical books again some time in the summer.
I'm thinking that, in the meantime, I will try to put my books up on Itch.io instead of Ko-fi; it seems to be working out well for many authors. The one issue is, frankly, I just…do not understand ebook formatting—I know String of Stardust looks kind of terrible. How I can finagle Word into making a beautiful (in my opinion!) physical book, but can only make a janky as hell ebook…only God knows.
Also…I am considering making another Bluesky account just for Beloved Chronicles art and promotion (@beloved.moe, rather than my current @hkrsztt.beloved.moe). I'm not sure, it all feels…so futile. Virtually nothing about my work is marketable in the least—but it's so important to me, and I put so much time and effort into it, that…should I keep trying to make it happen? I'm not sure.
Anyways, it is quite late now, and I think these are all the updates I wanted to go over. Sorry this is a bit rambly and all over the place, but TL;DR: I've not abandoned this series, life has just been difficult—but things are getting better, and I have a lot of exciting, more actionable, plans that I can't wait to enact. I hope soon, this series can be everything I've always hoped it would be…thank you to anyone and everyone who's stayed on this journey with me, even if it's been a bit of a disappointment thus far. I hope that shouldn't always remain the case.
For context (though I imagine if you are reading this, there is a good chance you already know most of this): Beloved Chronicles is a novel series I have been working on, in some fashion, nearly for as long as I can remember, at this point. I created the website for it nearly six(!) years ago, and I published the first book of the series, String of Stardust, four years ago. Almost two years ago, I updated it; I had published it during a time of great duress for me, and as such it wasn’t quite up to my then-present standards. And then…I’ve not released anything since. Over four years since a new book, and nearly two since any updates at all. If you know me, then you know I have never abandoned Beloved Chronicles, or have had any intentions of halting it—although, oftentimes my website has not made this fact obvious. What happened?
Earlier Plans for Beloved Chronicles
Admittedly, I…don’t quite remember much of what was going on in early 2024, which considering the recency of it, isn’t a good sign, I imagine… But, by spring, my dear friend Meg set up a GoFundMe for me, to help me move away. Since then, much of my life has been consumed with the move from Indiana to Washington, adjusting to living on my own, and to living in a place so very different from where I came from.
Originally, many of the “parts” of the series were meant to be multiple volumes: String of Stardust, as it currently exists, was meant to be volume one, its ending the midpoint to that section of the story. This had been the intended case for roughly a decade now—in fact, at one point it was meant to be one volume…but with as long as String of Stardust in its current iteration is, that was wholly untenable. Ever since I published String of Stardust in October 2020, I had been working on its second volume…but there were issues. A lot of issues.
The second volume of String of Stardust was supposed to cover a much broader timespan than the first. In addition to that—well, simply, a lot of the particulars of the plot I still had to hammer out. By the time I released the updated version of the novel (updated both textually and physically, the new edition more elaborate than the last) in February 2023, I had largely done so. But still, I struggled.
Once August or so of 2023 rolled around, I had an idea to create a small side story set within the Beloved Chronicles universe. I thought perhaps it would help get my creative juices flowing again working on a shorter, more experimental project—but, still connected to my main project, so I wouldn’t lose too much momentum on it. Swiftly I went to work, and created Pyre of Piety. My goal was to finish it by 2024, and then quickly move back to String of Stardust: Volume Two. At first, this went fantastically; although the story clearly was going to end up longer than I envisioned (a short novel, rather than a novella), I was still able to write 30,000 words in about as many months—a paltry achievement for many, I know, but a fantastic one for me. And then, once 2024 came around, I…spun out again.
Personal Events
Ah, I guess there’s still important context I still forgot to mention: life has been…rough. In 2020, straight off the heels of the worst event of my life (completely unrelated to the pandemic—ironically enough, that didn’t affect me at all), I poured myself into art and writing; there is a reason I both finished String of Stardust in 2020, and I drew the most that year to boot. After the grief-stricken mania of 2020, though, I just sort of…lost gas. Long story short—I dealt with health issues debilitating enough to basically cripple me, a very toxic (and at times, dangerous) living situation, and a job so terrible I’ve met multiple people—thousands of miles away!—who have heard of the specific store I worked at due to its infamy. I was on the upswing around the time I started Pyre of Piety—but by the time that December had come, I was in the pit again.
Although, during this time I did start writing more again…in the most unhinged way I could think of. Since Pyre of Piety wasn’t, apparently, weird and self indulgent enough as it was, I started a new project together with Meg: a Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 fanfiction called Aqua Regia, staring the main characters of her series The Impavidus Cycle, Albtraum and Mianna—and of Beloved Chronicles, Hikaru and Suzette. So…I have been writing! Not any of the things I was supposed to, but that’s fine; it was wonderful practice, and I believe it has some of my best work…if you would like to read Aqua Regia yourself, you may do so here.
New Developments
Since I finished my half of Aqua Regia, I’ve been pouring my energy into Beloved Chronicles proper again—and this has come with many changes.
I finally realized that…I set myself up for failure. I’m already not the fastest writer, and this story is long enough as it is, even without every volume being split into multiple parts. In addition, I’ve come to learn I was, too, overambitious with the newest physical edition of String of Stardust… I love it a lot, it’s what I always desired, filled with illustrations, profiles, etc…but when I’ve tried replicating the same for Pyre of Piety, I’ve come to discover—I can’t. I don’t know what it is: age, time, whatever…but I can’t draw as much as I used to, and certainly not as consistently. I had so much fun creating String of Stardust that I think, internally, I downplayed what a massive undertaking it actually was.
So, what am I doing about all this?
If you have paid attention to the website, you may have noticed mentions of any “volume two”s fading away. I’ve decided to scrap String of Stardust: Volume Two entirely—bits and pieces of what it would have entailed will be shown and referenced in later parts, but it won’t be its own thing anymore. This feels very mean, considering the note String of Stardust ends on…and so, I’ve decided to make it downright diabolical by rewriting the epilogue for the old String of Stardust: Volume Two (which has actually been around for years now!) and attach it to the old String of Stardust: Volume One! As of this writing, the epilogue is finished, and will be posted online once I finish some other things on the website. :)
I’m working on Pyre of Piety again, and luckily progress is going swiftly again: I’ve had many days as of late where I have written 500 or more words, even days where I had over a thousand (again: a pitiful number for many authors, I know, but an achievement for me). Right now, it’s over 40,000 words; my current estimate is that it will be around 50,000 total, or a little more. This isn’t a strict goal, but I’m hoping to finish it before February.
And then, after that?
Well, some may have noticed that, a while ago, I added a new part to Beloved Chronicles: Blossoms of Blood. This story was actually supposed to be a part of a later entry on the list, Under the Oak—this was once going to be an anthology of three interconnected stories, but I realized…the first story I could not fathom how to make it short enough to fit in an anthology. And the second story, I realized, just didn’t have enough plot. Therefore: the first story has become Blossoms of Blood, the third story remains Under the Oak, and the middle has been scrapped.
In addition, I formally added a part I was contemplating on trying to squeeze into Under the Oak, but wasn’t sure: Within the Cage, a shorter side story similar to Pyre of Piety in that it’s not a part of the main plot of Beloved Chronicles, but adds important context for the characters, setting, and plot.
I’m not sure just explaining this all in words makes the most sense, so here was my intended plan for Beloved Chronicles before:
- String of Stardust: Volume One (Part 1)
- Pyre of Piety (Extra)
- String of Stardust: Volume Two (Part 1)
- Hydrangeas for Concrete (Part 2)
- Under the Oak (Part 2.5)
- Under the Oak: Volume Two (Part 2.5) [I didn’t want to split three stories in two books—but the first is so long…]
- Reverie in Ruins: Volume One (Part 3)
- Reverie in Ruins: Volume Two (Part 3)
- Reverie in Ruins: Volume Three (Part 3)
- String of Stardust (Part 1)
- Pyre of Piety (Extra)
- Blossoms of Blood (Part 1.5)
- Hydrangeas for Concrete (Part 2)
- Under the Oak (Part 2.5)
- Within the Cage (Extra)
- Reverie in Ruins (Part 3)
Fewer volumes, two that are short, and a pleasingly symmetrical system that’s moderately less strange and confusing. It all feels much less daunting to me, aside from how I will make a book I was originally planning on allowing myself three volumes for into only one—but when we get to that bridge, we’ll jump. Considering past trends, that is likely over a decade away regardless. Even still, this restructuring has helped me get everything straight in my head, and I think it's been showing in my writing output.
(Also, as for why I use “1.5” and “2.5”—I think once we get to the true second part, Hydrangeas for Concrete, it will be clear :) ).
Now, for the physical volumes—I'm redoing them yet again because, as I said, the workload for String of Stardust was just too much. I've been working on a new “brand” for Beloved Chronicles, one that incorporates my very specific interests (Victorian novels, vintage shoujo manga) but is also broad enough to encompass the many varied places I plan for Beloved Chronicles to go. I don't know when I will take down the current edition of String of Stardust, but it will be soon.
As for Pyre of Piety, I've decided to make it online only, for a time. I already have the new covers for both, but I want to release it sooner than I will be able to format it. And, besides, I need to save money to buy the physical copies. This time, I wish to print through Bookvault rather than Barnes and Noble—and this will likely (possibly not, I need to consider my options) entail me having to buy my own stock… Maybe I will do pre-orders or a Kickstarter for that, but—in addition to knowing that would probably fail—I know that can be a slippery slope… Either way, I hope I can start producing physical books again some time in the summer.
I'm thinking that, in the meantime, I will try to put my books up on Itch.io instead of Ko-fi; it seems to be working out well for many authors. The one issue is, frankly, I just…do not understand ebook formatting—I know String of Stardust looks kind of terrible. How I can finagle Word into making a beautiful (in my opinion!) physical book, but can only make a janky as hell ebook…only God knows.
Also…I am considering making another Bluesky account just for Beloved Chronicles art and promotion (@beloved.moe, rather than my current @hkrsztt.beloved.moe). I'm not sure, it all feels…so futile. Virtually nothing about my work is marketable in the least—but it's so important to me, and I put so much time and effort into it, that…should I keep trying to make it happen? I'm not sure.
Anyways, it is quite late now, and I think these are all the updates I wanted to go over. Sorry this is a bit rambly and all over the place, but TL;DR: I've not abandoned this series, life has just been difficult—but things are getting better, and I have a lot of exciting, more actionable, plans that I can't wait to enact. I hope soon, this series can be everything I've always hoped it would be…thank you to anyone and everyone who's stayed on this journey with me, even if it's been a bit of a disappointment thus far. I hope that shouldn't always remain the case.
